I have to agree on the noise. It is exaggerated by the fact that you now have it on your desktop instead of under it in a tower. If I have the radio on or a cd playing, I don't notice it as much, but it does ruin the stealth aspect of the mini. As far as heat goes, I have the unit under the mini and don't hear the mini fan kick on at all. Perhaps separating the units with the new Belkin hub would help the heat issue (although I'm not that keen on the Belkin unit, either).

Yes, my 160 contains a Western Digital WD1600BB. Putty knives, inserted halfway between front and back will pop it open, just like the mini.

Is it just like other external cases on the inside, so it will be easy to replace the HD by an other IDE-ATA-drive? Can you post pictures please? _________________take care,
____________________________Jim
~ Registered Linux user #310054 ~
made in Xandros 3.0 (Linux)

http://www.macpower.com.tw/news/hot/2005/04/25/948
but this is a pity: "High quality aluminum coloured plastic", but one CAN PUT IN ONES OWN DRIVE Probably way cheaper than the mini mate! _________________take care,
____________________________Jim
~ Registered Linux user #310054 ~
made in Xandros 3.0 (Linux)

I emailed them throught the site to find out their prices and where to buy and some things like power (100 ~240 V, 50/60 HZ?) Still I'm wondering why they did not put more USB ports in them, though this backsite is pretty much filled up! Good thing is also, it powers up and down together with the mini! Micronets product doesn't!

Update: Their answer is: The product will be available towards the end of the month. All our products come with dual voltage systems._________________take care,
____________________________Jim
~ Registered Linux user #310054 ~
made in Xandros 3.0 (Linux)

I have to agree on the noise. It is exaggerated by the fact that you now have it on your desktop instead of under it in a tower.

I replaced the hard drive with a newer WD 160G 8M cache drive. It is MUCH quieter then the WD 160 I pulled out (and subsequently dropped and broke). In fact, the one I pulled out was dated Dec 2003! The computer store by me had the WD 160 for 59.99USD.

Since the mini mate and the mac mini pod are designed to work with the mac mini which works with FW 400, I guess not.

Of course, you're absolutely right. Am not planning to replace my iceCube FW enclosure but i eventually consider to buy a new macmini. At this time of year, i should expect till early september, in case of upgrading in which i believe… I already opened a thread about a "guessed" V2 ?

Why doesn't someone include some audio features in one of these things? How about a headphone jack, audio-in and volume control!

If you consider it, the Mac mini has some serious omissions and one has to choose which are important enough to go for extra's or buy a different Mac..._________________take care,
____________________________Jim
~ Registered Linux user #310054 ~
made in Xandros 3.0 (Linux)

I have been using my MicroNet miniMate for about a month now. As others have already mentioned, it is the hard drive mechanism itself that accounts for the noise and vibration. Everything else about the enclosure is excellent. So, to eliminate this unwanted element, I immediately swapped out the noisy drive and replaced it with the quietest mechanism I know of at the moment-- right here:

The included 80GB drive also appeared to be a Western Digital built unit but very OEM looking and probably a couple of models behind the above link. I'm sure it was fine when it was introduced years ago and placed in a typical noisy tower configuration, but it was certainly a poor choice for a modern drive enclosure like the miniMate. I have seen other photos of an open miniMate, though, so I am aware that some people are receiving better drives than others.

I was also a little bummed to discover that the included drive only had a 2MB buffer. When I queried MicroNet, they said the drives they use are 7200 RPM with 8MB buffers. Perhaps what he meant to say is that is what they are "now using". I could've got some old stock.

Needless to say, I am very happy using the upgraded WD drive. It is super quiet and it doesn't generate a lot of heat so it works just fine right underneath the MacMini. The original drive will be tucked away in case I need a warranty repair.

I realize 80GB's won't be enough for a lot of folks, however, and my experience with larger drives size suggests that 80GB is the largest mechanism you can obtain using a single platter. Once you go above 80GB, you will be using more than one. This will automatically introduce more noise and heat as a result, but probably not much and I'm sure if a modern drive is used, it won't be anywhere near as bad as the bundled drives. Fortunately for me, 80GB is enough for my purposes. I am using my MacMini as a music server with my SlimDevices Squeezebox2. Works great so far!

On the subject of "sleep", I want to mention I that I am receiving just the opposite behavior that others have posted. My drive not only spins down when I put the Mac to sleep, it also goes to sleep all by itself! I haven't yet timed exactly when this happens, but it is definitely happening before my specified sleep time of 3 hours. Anyone have any clues what might be causing this? Could it be the drive itself or something about the enclosure? I checked my energy saving preferences and the box to "put my drives to sleep when possible" is unchecked. Damaged prefs file perhaps?